Brain injury film award

Posted on: 28th November 2016

Our clients and the UKABIF Film Award

Two of our clients, Alfie and Phoebe, entered a short film competition organised by the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF).

'My Story' by Phoebe

19-year-old Phoebe acquired a brain injury in a car accident at the start of 2015, which left her with cognitive and emotional difficulties that affect her daily life. Since Sarah Bell, case manager, started working with her 17 months ago, Phoebe has had input from a multi-disciplinary team to help her adapt to these difficulties and to relearn her lost skills.

“Phoebe’s main problem has been with verbal and written communication,” says Sarah, “but with Phoebe’s determination and a consistent approach from her support worker, she’s come a long way. She is now able to communicate, lives in her own flat and does some voluntary work alongside her much-needed rehabilitation programme.”

“My carer and my fiancé both helped me with the film,” said Phoebe. “I wanted to make the film to help me - to show myself how far I’ve come - and to share my story with others. I used photos to show my journey because I can’t remember what happened and I find it hard to put the words together.”

'Through My Eyes... it's a whole different world' by Alfie

Budding film-maker Alfie, who has cerebral palsy and cerebral visual impairment (CVI) - a condition caused by the brain not correctly processing information received from the eyes - entered his latest short film in to the competition to help people understand the difficulties he experiences with his vision. We shared one of his earlier films, How I See, in November 2015.

Having CVI affects Alfie in many ways including his ability to read and write, recognise people, communicate, move around and carry out day-to-day tasks. He was able to make his film with help from his support workers. He performed and recorded the original music, produced animated sequences and story boards, and narrated the film using his Grid 3 communication software, provided by his speech and language therapist.

“Alfie is following his dream of becoming a film director and is studying media production at college,” says Tim Sagripanti, case manager. “He’s also very talented at photography and is building a portfolio of work that he hopes to sell at Christmas markets.”

The film award

“UKABIF developed the idea of a film award as video is such a strong medium for raising awareness, especially in this era of social media,” said Chloe Hayward, executive director at UKABIF. “We wanted to hear people's stories as we know these are the best way to understand the real issues and this has come across very strongly in the entries we have received.”

The winner was announced at the UKABIF conference on 14th November - find out more on the UKABIF website.

While Alfie and Phoebe’s films weren’t picked for the award, we’re sure you’ll agree they are fantastic!